Evaluation of the effect of sarcopenia and frailty on quality of life in older hemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of sarcopenia and frailty on the quality of life of older hemodialysis patients.

METHODS

Seventy hemodialysis patients aged ⩾60 years were assessed. Daily living activities (Katz Index), depression (Yesavage Scale), frailty (Fried's Criteria), and sarcopenia (EWGSOP2) were evaluated. Quality of life was measured using the KDQOL-36 questionnaire.

RESULTS

The median age was 67 years, and 50% were female. Nineteen patients (27.1%) were partially dependent, 71.4% were pre-frail, and 15.7% were frail. Probable sarcopenia was detected in 77.1%, and sarcopenia in 8.6% of patients. Sarcopenia was associated with older age, higher dependency, depression, lower income, and frailty (p < 0.05). It was also related to the KDQOL-36 physical component (p = 0.031), while frailty correlated with the symptom component (p = 0.047).

CONCLUSION

Frailty and sarcopenia are common in older hemodialysis patients and adversely affect their quality of life.